1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to image formation, and more particularly, to an image forming method and system using XHTML (extensible hypertext markup language)-print data, in which a device, such as a wireless communication apparatus or an electronic apparatus, generates XHTML-Print data and transmits the XHTML-Print data to an image forming apparatus that forms an image using the XHTML-Print data, the XHTML print which is a next generation page description language (PDL) described in universal plug and play (UPnP), mobile and image printing consortium (MIPC), and digital living network alliance (DLNA).
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional image forming method, a computer converts print data into a page description language (PDL) code using a printer driver and transmits the converted print data to a printer, i.e., an image forming apparatus, which forms an image corresponding to the print data.
The printer receives the print data through an input/output interface, and the print data is converted into a printing job language (PJL) command through a PJL parser. A type of emulation to be performed is determined through the analyzed PJL command, the emulation is then performed, and the emulated print data is output by a printing engine. In existing output methods, when an electronic apparatus such as a digital television or a mobile device such as a personal digital assistant (PDA) outputs the print data to the printer, the following problems occur.
First, printer drivers must be developed for various kinds of devices. That is, since existing devices use different operating systems without much regard for a printing function, there is a difficulty in using the printing function.
Second, in any kind of mobile device, the printer driver must be included in an application program.
Third, existing electronic apparatuses or mobile devices have problems in system resources and CPU power when accessing data over a network, executing an application, and driving the printer driver.
In another image forming method, the printer may directly receive the print data from an external device and print the print data. That is, the printer requests a print data provider to provide the print data and receives and prints the requested print data. However, this image forming method is very complex and has longer processing time for the output, compared with the previous method.
XHTML-Print data refers to a next generation page description language (PDL) described in universal plug and play (UPnP), mobile and image printing consortium (MIPC), and digital living network alliance (DLNA).
Conventionally, an XHTML-Print data generator generates single XHTML-Print data for a single representation form. However, since a display form of the XHTML-Print data has not been unified yet, a displayed image of the XHTML-Print data varies depending on a type of peripheral used to view the XHTML-Print data.
That is, for the XHTML-Print data generated in a specific XHTML-Print data generator, a type of a tag used for supporting the XHTML-Print data varies depending on type of image forming apparatus. Furthermore, although the same tag is used, the analysis thereof may vary. Accordingly, a user may not obtain a desired output. In an effort to solve this problem, guidelines for the output form of the XHTML-Print data have been published by various organizations, but have not been not yet been unified.